Visiting Paul.

Seventy-one years ago today, a 20-year old in the 26th Infantry in the Heurtgen Forest in Northwest Germany would have awaken after another night of sleeping in a hole to face another day of patching and evacuating other young men fighting in a dreary and cold woods.

Charles MacDonald, official army historian, writes in The Battle of the Huertgen Forest:

Like many another unit which fought within the Huertgen Forest, the 26th Infantry engaged in an almost unalloyed infantry battle. Trees and undergrowth so limited observation that the effectiveness of artillery was reduced severely. Mud and a dearth of roads restricted armored support. The inevitable hazards of forest fighting shellbursts in the trees and open flanks plagued the regiment from the start. Though the lead battalion gained but a few hundred yards, it still was necessary as night came to commit another battalion to bolster the lead unit's flanks.

Inching forward on the second day, the 26th Infantry's lead battalion under Lt. Col. Derrill M. Daniel gained only a few hundred yards more. Two days of fighting had brought an advance of little more than a mile. Return of wet weather on 17 November had eliminated any hope of getting tanks or tank destroyers forward along the muddy forest trails.

A second battalion joined the attack early on the third day, 18 November. Still the enemy yielded is bunkers grudgingly. Early on the fourth day, 19 November, as the regimental commander, Colonel Seitz, prepared to commit his remaining battalion, the Germans struck back. The counterattack grew out of Field Marshal Model's directive of two days before by which the 47th Volks Grenadier Division was thrust into the line along the interarmy boundary. A battalion of the 47th Division's 115th Infantry made the counterattack.

The 26th fended off the counterattack and managed to advance, a rare achievement in the Huertgen battle. But they advanced without one of their medics. Paul Kristan died on November 19, 1944. He rests in Plot B, Row 3, Grave 10 of the American War Cemetery in Henri-Chappelle, Belgium.

My family was puzzled that I wanted to visit the grave in our European trip. It meant a day that we couldn't spend with one of our exchange daughters, or maybe sightseeing. But they went along, and I think they found it worthwhile. Paul was my dad's first cousin, and I thought Dad would want us to visit. I understand he and Paul were close.

We stayed in Cologne the night before and drove into Belgium. I expected the cemetery superintendent to give me directions, and we would leave a bouquet and take a few pictures. Instead the man -- an American from Florida -- dropped everything he was doing to give us a two-hour history lesson and guided tour. He told us that Paul was something of a hero, with a Silver Star with an Oak Leaf Cluster, which means he earned the award twice for "gallantry in action."

It's a beautiful cemetery.

The superintendent took our picture and let us keep the little flags.

He told us we should also visit a little private museum in the next village. It is run by a man who was a little boy during the war and whose house hosted Americans, with the help of his wife. It was amazing. It wasn't hard to find.

The couple, Mathilde & Marcel Schmetz, long ago adopted Paul's grave, and they have hosted visits from Paul's brothers, who they remember well.

Thanks to Mathilde and Marcel for remembering, and to the Henri-Chapelle staff for being great hosts, and for remembering the men buried there. No thanks could ever be adequate for sacrifices made by Paul and his comrades at the cemetery, but we can remember.

More pictures on Flickr here.